Also called: Dorsum of the hand · Outside of the hand

Where on the hand: The outer surface of the hand, from the wrist to the knuckles, including the visible tendons and veins.

What it looks like: Judge skin texture, thickness and smoothness; the fineness or heaviness of the bones; and how prominently the tendons and veins stand out.

Far less developed in the literature than the palm, but the Samudrika tradition does read it — chiefly as an index of refinement versus hard use, and of nervous constitution.

Read with care: "Good birth" versus "coarse constitution" is explicitly a class reading from the older material; report it as historical doctrine.